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MANISTEE – Lavon and Matt McShane, owners of Five Five Coffee, have discovered that work, business and family can create a perfect blend.
Coffee beans from around the world — including Indonesia, Central and South America — are making their way to the McShane family business in Manistee County.
According to the company’s website, Five Five Coffee works with “micro-lot coffee farmers who want to grow and produce the world’s most unique and locally sourced specialty coffees.”
The McShanes say that coffee tastes different from where it is harvested.
“The business, it’s basically me and Matt, and our kids and significant others,” Lavon says. “Each of us has a job and we all work outside of business, so we all still have work to do.”
The McShanes leave their home to grow a handful of coffees sourced from Bali, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil and other tropical regions and process the coffee beans in the roasting room.
After the beans are roasted, they are packaged and sold, at local farmers’ markets, at Northern Spice Co. in Manistee, or shipped overseas – some as far away as Alaska.
During the busiest months of the summer, LaVonne says working the two jobs results in 16-hour days, seven days a week, for her and her husband, Matt.
Five Five Coffee has introduced a fermented roasted coffee based on customer demand. The Manistee-based coffee producer is a family owned and operated business.
Entered photo / five five coffeeIt’s all in preparation for farmers markets in Manistee, Frankfort and Interlochen.
While farmer’s market season is an important time for Five Five coffee, the McShanes say demand for coffee has been steady this winter.
“We had a list of things to follow up on and expand on, but it’s not being done because we’re busy. It was picked up faster than I thought, so that was great,” Lavon said.
Matt says Five Five Coffee is the only “fresh roaster” in Manistee County and that’s what sets it apart from other beans on the market.
“Honestly, the closest (hot roaster) would be in Muskegon or Traverse (CT), so we’re right in the middle,” he said, “People like that and they love the freshness of the coffee.
Another thing that sets Five Five coffee bags apart is the size. McShane’s coffee is sold in 16-ounce (1-pound) bags — 4 ounces more than standard bags.
He began to boil and grind coffee.
“It all started with a family member who’s been in coffee for 30-plus years… and he taught me how to brew and then we went and I started doing it as a hobby,” says Matt.
Matt says the response to his home-roasted coffee has been so positive that he’s encouraged a licensed business to start selling it.
Their goal, Lavon says, is to keep growing, and that means expanding equipment and offerings, such as the much-requested caffeine blend selection.
“(Our goal) is basically to continue to grow because we want to provide our community, the surrounding communities, fresh coffee. Right now, where we’re sitting, we’ve exceeded our expectations,” she said. “We’re looking forward to continuing to grow,” she said.
More information on Five Five Coffee is available online at fivefivecoffee.com or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Pages @fivefivecoffee.
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